Development of the Immature Stages of Ascogaster Reticulatus Watanabe (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), an Egg-Larval Parasitoid of the Smaller Tea Tortrix Moth, Adoxophyes SP. (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae)

Abstract

Ascogaster reticulatus Watanabe is a solitary egg-larval endoparasitoid of the smaller tea tortrix moth, Adoxophyes sp. Most of the parasitoid eggs hatched within two days after being laid in the host eggs, and became lst-instar larvae with brown, falcate-shaped and sclerotized mandibles. The parasitoid larvae grew slowly, becoming 2nd-instar larvae when the host was in the 4th-instar and reaching 3rd-instar immediately before their egression from the host. The mandibles of the 2nd-instar parasitoid larvae were transparent and feebly sclerotized; however, they were again sclerotized and serrated in the 3rd instar. After its egression, the 3rd-instar parasitoid larva consumed the host larva completely from the outside, and then spun a cocoon for pupation. © 1985, JAPANESE SOCIETY OF APPLIED ENTOMOLOGY AND ZOOLOGY. All rights reserved.